questions....

[Homunculi]

i have a few things bouncing around in my mind right now ... and i am really puzzled by them ....

the old man i know who never goes without a cigar or ciggrette just killed a buck... even smokes in his stand ...??? how ??? ...

i do not know but i do the best i can to stay sent free other than coffee yet the old man has a coffee cup and a cigg or cigar and still kills a deer ???


the other thing.... i have to question on is my squirrell hunting trip this monring .. things were going good and i bagged 5 today ....
on the last 12G shot 3 doe walked in on the backside of the property .. looked at me for 2-3 min and went about their business ??? no more than 2 min after the 12 went off ... ...
like do they have a death wish or did they know i could not kill them ?

can someone explain this ... .... i cannot think of any reason for either

[mnslayer]

deer do what deer want to do. scent comes into the mix more so when they are alerted or spoked. Deer will react to motion more then anything. Had a spike run in on me no more then 2min after I shot a larger buck. Yeah limit your scent but more so sit as still and quiet as possible.

[Woods Walker]

The problem that too many hunters have is that they think like HUMANS. In that same vein they also SEE THE WORLD as humans, with a human's perspective of it based on our logic, past exeriences, and what is relevant to US.

That's where we get into trouble. Deer see and relate to the world as deer. Sometimes what would seem obvious to us deer don't make a connection with, such as that gunshot. WE know what that gunshot means, but unless a deer was harmed or harassed by something to do with a gunshot in the past it will NOT necessarily make that connection. Hence your comment about "Did the deer know that I couldn't kill it? Of course it didn't. It also doesn't know what a gun is either or what it does.

I'm in the middle of a book now called "Animals In Translation", by Temple Grandin. She's a functional (a VERY functional I might add...) autistic person who changed the livestock industry's methods of animal handling based on how she see the world as a person with autism. She has a PHD in animal science, and is currently (I believe) the head of animal science research at Colorado State University. There was a movie made about her called "Temple Grandin", which I HIGHLY recommend.

Anyway, in her book, she discusses how animals see the world as opposed to us humans. Most of the animals she talks about are livestock and dogs, but much of what she says applies to deer as well. Fascinating, to say the least. I am just skimming the surface of her theories, but already I am changing my perspective. I was leaning this way anyway over the past few years and this just confirms it.

A deer's life revolves around 3 basic things......food, security, and sex. The priority of these things changes with the current situation and season, but that's about all there is to them. Us humans tend to over think them, and that's where we get into trouble.

Bottom line, think like a DEER in relation to those 3 things, and not a human, especially a "modern" human who lives his/her life completely out of sync with the rhythms of the natural world. There's times when I find it amazing that we are able to hunt them at all with all the mental garbage we handicap ourselves with.

[Deebz]

Woods, I read that book after you'd mentioned in a post on here. Definitely very awesome. I missed a chance to see her speak a coupel weekends back, and I have the movie on my NetFlix list.

It definitely does make some things seem more logical when you try to look at the world from a deer's perspective...

[Homunculi]

well the old man did it again with a coffee and a big fat cigar ... killed a doe this morning just callede needing help and i am at work ...

[spearfisher]

My brother ate a lot of beans for dinner one night before a hunt. Next morning he swore he "grunted" in the little buck he shot. Clearly scent wasnt a factor there

[Homunculi]

My brother ate a lot of beans for dinner one night before a hunt. Next morning he swore he "grunted" in the little buck he shot. Clearly scent wasnt a factor there

now that i did not need to know .....

[Scoutfish]

My brother ate a lot of beans for dinner one night before a hunt. Next morning he swore he "grunted" in the little buck he shot. Clearly scent wasnt a factor there

I am not sure which of my feelings on this are stronger right now: Laughter or being impressed.

[Scoutfish]

Lately, I have been taking my son to a deer stand on my father - in - laws land.

WE get to his house, park the truck and walk the 1/4 mile through the fields to the woods where the stand is.

So anyways, he sees in all our real tree get up , face nets, camo gloves and such. Our backpacks are camo, our guns have camo sleeve over the barrel and we even put a camo burlap wrap around the deer stand.

He shakes his head because he never used s stich of camo whenever he used that stand. He would wear blue jeans or blue work pants and whatever color coat that was the warmest. Might be green, red, orange, purple, etc.....

Now, he readily admits we pretty much disapper from being seen except for our blaze orange hats, but will tell you he never wore camo of any kind in all his years of hunting. The man has killed his share of deer too.

He will also tell you he never got a shot at a turkey either .

[oletimer]

I would have to agree with your father in law as far as deer huunting. Never used camo for years and had deer walk right past me or right up to me on the ground. The Wetsel brothers use to recommended kaki pants for deer hunting. Not sure if they still do. Deers eye sight is not very good and they pick out forms and movement better than variations in colors. I do wear camo now mainly because it is more silent and I can find some very warm camo suits. I used to wear Carharts [ not the best color for personal protection in the deer woods]. I get picked off by deer just as much now in camo as when I did not wearing it. Camo clothing and accessories are BIG business. That is why all the hunting shows are sponcered by them. JMHO
Deer can pick out blue so I suspect blue jeans would not be advisable. But for years without the research we got along very well wearing them hunting.